State Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa has great news for thousands of Pennsylvanians who are seeking help during the pandemic.
The state has seen more than 2.7 million unemployment claims throughout the Pandemic and Costa acknowledges the delays that has brought to the state unemployment system.
He told KDKA Radio's Marty Griffin the State can extend further help with the reinstatement of another program today. “And now the PUA program – Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program – is now up and running and folks are going to be able to apply as we speak.”
Costa said that while improvements have been made, but has advice for applicants to help smooth things out “To be able to process a claim, there’s the steps going back and forth between the claimant and the state; make sure that right information is there. So I would say to folks be careful as you input your information. Make sure it’s accurate and it’s complete.”
He said the State has added more than 1,000 employees to help process unemployment claims, and a new computer system upgrade that was delayed due to the pandemic is still due to be installed in the coming months.